NASA's final space shuttle launch

Atlantis Launch Notes: July 7, 9:00 A.M.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER—As of now, NASA's final space shuttle launch is still on for Friday at 11:26 A.M. Eastern time, but a gathering storm bearing down on Florida's Space Coast remains a major concern.

While waiting on a go/no-go decision from the mission managers yesterday afternoon, I decided to take a little field trip thrown by the people at SpaceX, the builders of the Falcon rocket and Dragon capsule, slated to carry cargo—and later up to seven crew members—to the International Space Station (ISS).

Interviews and tours for the press brought me face to face with the Dragon capsule, which, at least in appearance, recalls both Apollo and the new multipurpose crew Vehicle. But what makes it more impressive than the latter is that it has already flown, successfully circling Earth twice before being recovered from the Pacific. I also got to visit the launch pad and see the business end of the Falcon 9 rocket first stage and its nine engines. I had to be careful not to photograph them from the back (and shots down into the front of the cylinder were also verboten), lest the competition might get some free techno tips.

I was hoping founder and CEO Elon Musk, who made his fortune as co-founder of PayPal and head of Tesla Motors, would be there. Ever since the successful orbital flight of the Falcon 9–Dragon spacecraft last year, he seems to have become is the rock star (or is it the Steve Jobs ?) of the spacefaring world.